12. Habib Hamam, Special relativity facing some paradoxes

Faculty of Engineering, University of Moncton, New Brunswick E1A 3E9, Canada and Canadian Institute of Technology, Tirana, Albania

Time dilation is one of the consequences of special relativity (SR) or the special theory of relativity. For one given object (or person), time flows slower the faster the object travels. The object is traveling inside a system, whether the universe, the given galaxy, the solar system or even a smaller system. We will have two worlds: the world of the fast-moving object and another world, namely, the rest of the system, which is observed by the moving object as stationary. We may consider them as two worlds, since each has its own time running differently. Since one world is included in the other, both worlds interact with each other in many aspects, including energy, flow of material, pressure, and temperature to name few. Since energy (just like temperature and the flow of material) depends on time, the situation gives birth to a number of paradoxes. During the interaction between both worlds, which time should we refer to and, therefore, which energy, flow of material and temperature should we consider? Should we consider the time of World 1 (the fast-moving object) or that of World 2 (the relatively stationary environment or system)? The present article illustrates these paradoxes through thought experiments and scenarios. In the end, we should either (1) find an explanation to these paradoxes within the framework of SR, (2) modify some aspects of SR or add more postulates to cover these paradoxes, or (3) abandon SR if neither (1) nor (2) is possible.